Question regarding job search in IT in Japan

[ShikkokuNoSenshi]

Greetings ladies and gentlemen. Being here for some time I noticed that there are a lot of people on TAG that are living in Japan for a long time and have extensive knowledge regarding different aspects of life here. So I want to ask advice regarding job search.

I consider myself really good developer. I was working in startups and big companies. I know how to find job in most of developed countries on this planet but Japan of course is different. I arrived to work in Japan because I have some plans connected to this country. But my first company here was total scum and I left it ASAP. My current company is better but other guys from it still live in 80-90's and after a year working in almost prehistoric approach to IT I got really-really tired of that shit. So I tried to search job via first found job agency, but several companies they purposed are all same as previous one - or scummy looking or working in prehistoric way.

So, please, can anybody advice me job agency or maybe freelance recruiter that can help me find company that at least works by standards of this decade? Because I am becoming desperate. I am getting feeling that normal IT work here can be found only in huge international companies and I do not know how to enroll for their japanese branches.

Thanks in advance for your advices. Also if suggested company\recruiter would help me to find job I am looking for then I will be really grateful to the adviser. Not only in words but also in more materialistic way .

 

[impish]

There is a reason I telecommute to the US. ;-)

 

[psd]

You're in the wrong country but I think you've worked that out. I don't think there's much any one can do to help.

The big domestic companies such as Fujitsu, JR Systems are just as you explained. Many of the foreign companies, such as Microsoft, Oracle are just Japanese companies with foreign names.

The best bet is Google, Amazon and Rakuten, although I've heard some bad things about Rakuten. Plus smaller places like Red Hat.

 

[meiji]

Short version: Japan IT/development sucks.

The closer you get to US orgs (Google, Apple,etc) the better you'll get. Pay (and to some extent work hours) routinely are worse than US versions of the same jobs. This is highly dependent on which programming languages you know well and which companies you apply to. Start networking your ass off and look at various job sites - careercross and linkedin etc.

 

[Goiter]

Depending on your level of “hot shit-ness”, Indeed is a very good employer in terms of being international and extremely well paid. Plus they are hiring all the time.

 

[warubuta]

Look it is OK to feel unsure about yourself.

 

[Hofmeyer]

If you've heard bad things about Rakuten that is only regarding their marketing/financial and other mundane departments.

I have two friends working as software developers and they are having a fucking blast. It's basically a foreign company operating within another Japanese company.

 

[bergmann]

Ditto the above.

 

[psd]

I have two friends working as software developers and they are having a fucking blast. It's basically a foreign company operating within another Japanese company.

Have you noticed they haven't bought any new clothes in the last couple of years and have lost weight? Do they always have to borrow money from you when you go drinking?

 

[Hofmeyer]

One of them can afford to go to Hakuba literally every weekend in the winter.

The other is built like a greek god and only has brand name clothes.

So no, not really.

 

[majimekun]

1. Use LinkedIn

2. Target young startups with sites like https://justa.io/

3. Attend startups events in Tokyo https://www.startupgrind.com/tokyo/ , http://tokyo.slush.org/

Most probably, the way you search is outdated .... which makes you find outdated companies.

Greetings ladies and gentlemen. Being here for some time I noticed that there are a lot of people on TAG that are living in Japan for a long time and have extensive knowledge regarding different aspects of life here. So I want to ask advice regarding job search.
....
Not only in words but also in more materialistic way .

 

[psd]

One of them can afford to go to Hakuba literally every weekend in the winter.

The other is built like a greek god and only has brand name clothes.

So no, not really.

All the people I know there complain about the shitty salary, significantly below market rates.

 

[Hofmeyer]

Well the people I know there who are working as software developers can afford to live quite comfortably. Even afford a yearly trip overseas. Maybe your people are in a different department?

 

[warubuta]

if I were a software programmer my main objective would be to not be a software programmer.

 

[Scooker]

if I were a software programmer my main objective would be to not be a software programmer.

There is a lot of truth to this statement.

 

[meiji]

2. Target young startups with sites like https://justa.io/

I checked out Justa a while back, and I don't really get the point of it, unless they are scraping resumes or something. You can't search for jobs until you submit a profile with personal information and your resume, and the listings that they have for 'job descriptions' are basically a list of programming languages, plus "CEO/CFO/CTO" and "HR". They have HTML/CSS listed twice. It's amateur hour.